In the southern part of the Tula Kremlin, near the Nikitskaya Tower, there is a historical and ethnographic complex Siege Yards of the 16th and 17th centuries. At that time, the Tula Kremlin was very densely built up with similar siege yards. Their maximum number by the end of the 16th century reached 129 yards.
For several centuries Tula and Kolomna were the strongholds of the fortified line, which protected the lands of the Russian state from the raids of steppe nomads. The threat from the south persisted until the beginning of the 17th century. The last raid on Moscow was made by the Crimean Khan Kazy-Giray in 1591.
A siege yard is a wooden house and a yard around it, where a small farm was located so that the people who lived in the yard could feed themselves during the siege. These yards could accommodate several thousand people under the protection of the fortress walls of the Tula Kremlin.
The siege yards in the Tula Kremlin were owned by wealthy nobles who had estates in the Tula region. In quiet times, they did not live in Siege Yards, but they kept watchmen. They kept them in good condition so that a large family could be accommodated in the yard at any time.
